Monday, July 30, 2012

"I also don't know" and "also can"

Though the phrases "I also don't know" and "also can" are not uncommon in Malaysia when I hear them I am reminded of our former driver, Vincent. When we asked him a question, his answer would usually be one of these phrases. He is one of the most hardworking and cheerful guys we know and any boss would love to have him as an employee. After working for us four years he resigned to expand his hawker business and we are very happy for him. It is no surprise to us that he and his lovely wife were successful in their enterprise.

Quay Lo and I sometimes use his favorite phrases to tease each other. For example, when we say something to the other, for emphasis and reassurance, we might say "You know what I mean?" It has become a private joke between us to answer "I also don't know." Or, we might ask each other if we would like to go out for lunch and the other would answer, "Also can." That usually causes us both to laugh out loud.

Do you remember my post about picking berries in a berry farm in California? After that, I made a berry pie with the all the different kinds of fresh berries we picked and all together was a wonderful experience. There are no berries to pick in Kuala Lumpur but we can buy fresh berries or use the frozen ones if we want to make a berry pie. One morning, my Quay Lo told me that he loves blackberry pie. POOF!! Genie Lucy made him a blackberry pie that evening. I could not get fresh blackberries, so I used frozen ones and they are from the states. The pie came out almost as delicious as the one I made with the fresh berries. So I can say that the frozen ones "ALSO CAN" , but please don't ask me how much is the frozen blackberries because I "ALSO DON'T KNOW". LOL! I forgot to look at the price when I bought them. A thousand apologies.

Method to prepare the filling:Add frozen blackberries and sugar into a medium pot over medium heat. Stir till sugar is dissolved. Add cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well. Add in flour and mix well. Turn off heat and set aside.

Method to make the crust and assemble pie:
Combine flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Add butter and mixed well with the flour and sugar. Use fingers to break up the butter until the mixture has a pebbley tetxure. Gently shape into 4 discs, two bigger than the other, with the size depending on the pie plate or rings you use. Press the dough just enough to form the discs, but do not over handle. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour, or store for up to two days.

Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin in between two piece of clinging plastic wrap to a circle according to the size desired and about 1/8 inch thick. Carefully place loosely into pie pan. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a rolling pin or scrapper to trim off overhanging dough. Add half of the filling to the pie and dot with butter. Roll out second disk of dough, as before. Lay dough over. Use the rolling pin or scrapper to trim off the over hanging dough and seal the dough with your fingers. Poke holes on the top pie crust with a fork. Do the same for the second pie.

Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 40 minutes depending on the temperature of your oven. If the top begins to brown before the baking time is done, cover the top of the pie with some aluminium foil with the shiny side up to finish baking. This pie is best served with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Look at that ooze! Yum! Where do you find the time and energy to go gallivanting, visit friends, eat and still cook/bake such fancy, scrumptious things? What's your secret? Good time management? Uppers? Hehe .... or just plenty of caffeine?Homemade's the best ... no scrimping on the filling!

Aunty Lucy, I seldom go gallivanting lah and I don't drink as much coffee as my Quay Lo. So both your guesses are out and there is no secret to share. hehe Yes homemade anything is always better cos quality ingredients will be used.

Oh yummy and expensive pies, lol! Very familiar phrases you've wrote about in this post, never fail to hear it few times in a day at work and sometimes makes me want to choke the breath out of the person who said it! lol!

Kian Fai, haha, you cracked me up when you said your friends don't wanna communicate with you because of what you answered them. I don't blame them. Good for them to do that to you so now you exercise your brai and answer wisely. Answer them I don't know sounds a bit better than I also don't know. LOL!

Yes, yes, yes, I do remember reading about your previous posting about the berries picking! Some studies showed that frozen fruits/vegetables contain more vitamins than the "fresh" ones, depend on how the fresh vegetables being delivered to the end users. In Australia, some of the "fresh" fruits have been stored in the freezer for months before they come to the market! And very common to find "fresh-looking" pears with a rotten centre parts which are quite annoying! Here, I like to use Sara Lee's raspberries & they look in good shape though after thawing.

Oh, before I forgot, I do have to say something here. You had a driver? Man!

It's so nice that a phrase or two brings laughter to you and your husband...I love those little inside jokes :) Your pie looks spectacular! What perfect crust! I'll take mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, too :)

Awww.. so sweet and it sure did cracked me up.. Berries are so ex here right? What to do? I wished I could smuggle a whole truck load of them back while I was in SF. So cheap, and I was like oh I wanted this pack and that pack of berries. But then no kitchen for me to play there.. LOL.. We will meet up soon and when I mean soon = next week or the next? I am so free and single every weekend.. So buzz me or better yet, I will buzz you ladies till you all say enough Jo! point taken.. we are coming to hang out with ya'. Huggssss, Jo

Sorry it's been so long since I last visited. The kiddies are demanding a bit less time now so I'm trying to catch up on my fave blogs.

You and your Quay Lo are such an adorable couple! I really do hope we have a chance to meet one day! Inside jokes are the best, aren't they? Really shows how close you are with that person. Made me laugh when you said you also don't know the price of the berries coz I do the same sometimes when hubby asks me how much something was. All he can do now is shake his head and accept that he was the one who chose me. Lol.

Your blackberry pie looks delicious! I'm sure every bite got sweeter and sweeter for your Quay Lo. You both are very lucky to have each other. Two ppl who can cook so well and are crazy about each other. Keep it going, you love birds! :D I hope you and your family are doing well. Hope to be dropping by more often. Take care, my dear.

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A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.

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